Although small, the entrees prepare you most adequately for the main course. Accompanying the entree is a warm bread roll, a glass of chilled water and an extremely knowledgable waiter with good recommendations for the hungry.

They serve San Remocoffee. A nice, smooth and flavourful coffee and eminently drinkable.

Overall their food is remarkable and definitely worth a try. Their prices are moderately expensive but well worth it for the quality of the food. The location is unique, and the staff are friendly. Rating: 5 chainsaws! Well done

I had contacted sneff via a /msg from overseas several days in advance, asking him to make a booking for a cozy dinner for lignocaine and I at the Palisade. He happily made all the arrangements for me.

As we got to the second floor of the Palisade Hotel where sneff's famous restaurant resides, we noticed him working in the kitchen and I managed to get a few words with him before dinner. He mentioned that the barramundi was excellent and that it was extremely fresh.

We ordered a glass of chardonnay each to accompany dinner and then proceeded to order - I got scallops with angel hair pasta for entrees while lignocaine got some form of souffle. Remembering sneff's advice, we ordered a barramundi each for our main course and left the decision about dessert for later.

Our first surprise was that a plate of big mussels appeared. This was, according to our waiter, courtesy of sneff. Allow me to say that those were, without a doubt, the best mussels I have had in a long, long, long time. They were done to perfection, soft and tasty, and the sauce they came in was just heavenly.

Next came the appetizers. The souffle was very good, light and tasty while the scallops were great too. No complaints whatsoever.

The best was yet to come. Finally, the barramundi arrived. It had been very popular that night and a slab of fish, skin still intact arrived. To put it simply, it was heavenly. The skin was crisp, yet the meat was tender and simply melted in your mouth. Lignocaine declared it the best fish she had *ever* eaten ...

I wish I could say that the dessert was similarly wonderful. It was certainly a good dessert, but we were, quite frankly, quite gastronomically satisfied by then and were only able to tell the difference between good and bad by then. Dessert definitely fit in the 'good' category.

It is now three years since a noderreview of the Palisade Restaurant has taken place, and some noders may be wondering if sneff is still tantalising our tastebuds with the same flair and quality as ever... the answer is yes, he is, and for your delectation I now present a little tale of gastronomic happiness.

I arrived on foot from The Rocks at a little after five on Saturday afternoon in the company of Phoenix, a gentleman of epic proportions and legendary gallantry, and the Emperor, a fussy, recently de-closetedlaw student from Austria. The narrow red-brick frontage of the Palisade Hotel beckoned us into its tiny downstairs pub and there we waited until six, chatting with the friendly barman and warming up with a few drinks by the fire.

At six we made our way up the tiny winding staircase, all three of lugging the loot from our day at the markets and Kinokuniya. The waitress, one of the best I know, showed us to a table overlooking the coathanger and presented us with Italian bread, little bowls of olive oil, salt and pepper, and a wine list. We admired the elegant stamped paper adorning the tables and noticed that the specials list is no longer written above the fireplace on antique mirrors.

Having warned sneff that some strange internet people were visiting him again, the waitress offered us both menus and recommendations as we ordered. I will now describe for you the miracles that descended from the kitchen to my humbly grateful palate:

For Mains,
Sneff recommended the Golden Schnapper, towering over a bed of grass green peas and carrots sliced so thin they were translucent, and the whole embraced by a cream sauce that whispered to your tongue that it contained cheese, but denied it in your stomach... One of the best pieces of fish I have eaten, and the simplicity of the accompaniments allowed it to show off unhindered by fuss.

Martini-cured Salmon, served with something that escaped my notice as I was busy eating every individual pea on my plate. Did I mention that I have never in my life liked peas in any form? The Emperor waxed lyrical and lawyerish about the salmon, but by that time I had moved onto the salad and just didn't listen...